The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis, who ends a visit to Malta this morning, yesterday spoke on the need for a European Coast Guard. The newspaper also reports the rollercoaster ride of the financial markets yesterday.
The Malta Independent gives prominence to an Emigrants Commission statement that the number of immigrants who have come to Malta this year have exceeded the birth rate of Maltese.
In-Nazzjon quotes the Greek Prime Minister praising the EU Immigration Pact. It also reports that Manuel and Joseph Cuschieri are showing themselves to be powerful in the MLP. The former has had his programme reinstated on Super One radio.
l-orizzont says an Egyptian sailor has been abandoned for months without pay on a ship in Malta.
Il-Gens Illum reports that a new version of the equity sharing scheme for first time property buyers is to be published shortly. The newspaper also says it will appeal a libel case decided against it earlier this week.
The Press in Britain…
The newspaper front pages are dominated by the global financial crisis.
The Times reports that a frenzied day of panic selling across the world capped a week of extraordinary financial mayhem in which £2.7 trillion was wiped off the value of global shares.
The Daily Mail reports that £250billion was wiped off the stock market in the worst week ever for the FTSE 100.
The Financial Times shows the panic on the faces of four market dealers as shares plummeted in Tokyo, Frankfurt, London and New York.
The Guardian reports finance ministers and central bank governors are considering joint action to bail out banks amid fears of a fresh wave of panic.
Under the heading ‘Panic Stations’, The Daily Telegraph quotes Chancellor Alistair Darling saying Britain was facing “turbulence the like of which we have never seen”.
The Scotsman reports that the life savings and retirement dreams of tens of millions of the baby boom, post-war generation plunged and rose on epic waves of fear and panic yesterday.
The Daily Express says leaders of the world’s most powerful countries are gathering for a summit to save the global economy.
The Independent's front page is taken over by ticker tape news on the global meltdown with the paper asking "What next?"
The London Evening Standard quotes the AA saying petrol now costs 9 per cent less than three months ago as oil prices fell to their lowest level for a year.
The Sun reports on the trial of a 16-year-old accused of killing Rhys Jones. The court heard how the accused blurted it out to a friend moments after shooting the 11-year-old in Liverpool.
And elsewhere…
Le Monde announces that Eurozone countries will hold an urgent summit meeting tomorrow to discuss ways to respond to the worldwide financial crisis.
The Washington Times reports President Bush has made a public appeal for trust that the US could cut through the “uncertainty and fear” of the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says the Group of Seven (G7) countries issued a five-point plan aimed at unfreezing a credit crisis that has unhinged markets around the globe. Under the plan, they vowed to protect major banks, to get credit flowing more freely and revive the mortgage market.
Iceland's Morgunbladid quotes Prime Minister Geir Haarde saying he was cooperating "amicably" with the UK, and said his country would "honour its obligations".
EU Observer reports European energy ministers have agreed to ban high-energy light bulbs from 2010, and replace them with low-energy fluorescent bulbs.
Somalia News says Nato has joined a growing international force to protect vessels off Somalia's perilous coast.
USA Today reports that the Connecticut's Supreme Court had ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making the state the third after Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.
Sydney Morning Herald says all passengers on board the Qantas jet that nose-dived in mid-air, injuring more than 50 people, are to be questioned about whether they were using electronic equipment. Investigators believe that electromagnetic waves from laptops, mobile phones or hand held computer games could have interfered with the Airbus A330-300's autopilot, although the cause of the accident is still to be determined.
San Francisco Chronicle reports the city’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge is to be surrounded by a stainless steel net to stop suicides.